Madison coach Audrey Ambrose led the Mavericks to the first area girls soccer title in 1991, beating Plano 3-0 and finishing the season 22-0-2.

Madison coach Audrey Ambrose led the Mavericks to the first area girls soccer title in 1991, beating Plano 3-0 and finishing the season 22-0-2.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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Roosevelt is one of a number of NEISD teams to have success in soccer in the past. The district has won 16 of 30 boys regional titles.

Roosevelt is one of a number of NEISD teams to have success in soccer in the past. The district has won 16 of 30 boys regional titles.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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MacArthur, shown in 1988, is one of three NEISD schools that has sent boys and girls teams to state. Churchill and Reagan are the others.

MacArthur, shown in 1988, is one of three NEISD schools that has sent boys and girls teams to state. Churchill and Reagan are the others.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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Goalkeeper Shira Leffel (center) and the Clark Cougars reached the Class 5A state tournament in 2001, the only Northside ISD school to make it.

Goalkeeper Shira Leffel (center) and the Clark Cougars reached the Class 5A state tournament in 2001, the only Northside ISD school to make it.

Photo: WILLIAM LUTHER, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

30 years of high school soccer

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During the 1982-83 school year, the UIL sanctioned high school soccer for the first time. Express-News staff writer Terrence Thomas highlights some of the area's top moments in the 30 years that have followed:

Success on big stage

The Dallas area had long been out in front when it came to soccer in Texas when two San Antonio-area teams, both using high-powered offenses and stingy defenses, helped the area make its mark on the statewide landscape.

The 1987 Alamo Heights boys team, in only the program's third season, captured the UIL state championship with a 1-0 victory over Dallas Highland Park in Austin, the first title won by an area school. The Mules, coached by Bruce Fink, outscored their opponents 124-9 to finish 22-3-1 and become the first Class 4A team to win a state crown. Back then, soccer wasn't broken into classifications.

In 1991, the Madison girls, coached by Audrey Ambrose, blanked Plano 3-0 in Pflugerville to become the first area girls team to win a title.

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From the number of teams qualifying for the playoffs to the way the game is played, so much has changed in three decades. Locally, though, the script has pretty much held form — the North East ISD has ruled the roost.

The district's teams have combined to win seven state titles with seven runner-up finishes. Every NEISD school has sent either its boys or girls team to the state tournament. Churchill, MacArthur and Reagan each has sent its boys and girls teams to state, and Churchill (1998) and Reagan (2002) had both squads make it to state in the same season.

The district has combined to win 16 of 30 boys regional titles, including 10 straight from 1995-2004, and 20 of 30 girls regional crowns, including 13 of the past 16.

In March 1990, citing a statewide rash of unsportsmanlike-conduct incidents (verbal and physical abuse of officials, players and coaches) and rules violations, the UIL considered dropping soccer — or at the least, closely monitoring the sport. While many of the incidents happened elsewhere, San Antonio wasn't immune.

That same year, a coach and security officer had to go onto the field to settle things down between players and the center referee at the end of the Region IV boys final at Blossom Stadium. MacArthur, unblemished at 21-0-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state, had three goals disallowed in a 1-0 loss to Brownsville Hanna. Two years earlier at the regional tournament, a player from an out-of-town school pushed the center referee from behind.

Making a pitch

Since the sport's inception, the UIL state tournament always has been played in Central Texas, starting in Austin before moving to Pflugerville, Georgetown and Round Rock. The tournament could soon have a new home.

San Antonio Sports, a local nonprofit organization, made a bid to the UIL last spring to host the annual event. The bid centered on the premise that the UIL would expand soccer to three classifications — 3A was approved in the fall — which, in turn, would necessitate the need for two facilities to put on the three-day event. S.A. Sports already has secured NEISD's Heroes Stadium and Toyota Field, soon to be the new home of NASL's San Antonio Scorpions, as venues.